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Elements Of Style
by Wendy Wasserstein
Completed shortly before her death at the age of 55, this debut novel from the Pulitzer-winning playwright satirizes the life of Manhattan's upper class in a post-9/11 world.
Knopf, 320 pages
04/18/2006
$23.95
ISBN: 1400042313
Fiction
General Literature & Fiction
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Joy Parks
With Elements of Style, Wasserstein has definitely had the last laugh on the whole old-money establishment, showing us style and substance and, more important, how to tell the difference.
The New York Times Janet Maslin
Either way, Elements of Style is chick-lit with a chill and a pedigree. Tom Wolfe and Edith Wharton can be found peeking through its Candace Bushnell fluff.
Boston Globe Julie Wittes Schlack
While this tale of high-society New Yorkers trying to get on with life in the wake of Sept. 11 has the wit and crackling dialogue of her plays, it lacks their resonance.
Chicago Sun-Times Hedy Weiss
You can hear the raucous laughter, feel the well-honed satiric bite -- and sense the well-guarded private tears -- throughout Elements of Style, her first, and sadly, her only novel.
Washington Post Elinor Lipman
Readers who haven't seen Wasserstein's plays might wonder if Elements of Style was meant to celebrate or satirize high society and its trappings. But we have seen them, and we know. We trust that a dear playwright-friend of hers will take this work from page to stage, with luminous results.
Library Journal Joy Humphrey
[Wasserstein] has done a good job of simultaneously poking fun at high society and evoking the anxiety of maintaining a perfect image, capturing a world that is at once fascinating, appalling, and amusing. [1 March 2006, p.80]
The New Yorker
While the keynote is hilarity, Wasserstein also demonstrates, with sly grace, a vulnerability that cuts across class lines.
Chicago Tribune Celia McGee
Wasserstein gets the questions--and the answers--right. [4 Jun 2006, p.9]
Publishers Weekly
Wasserstein gets the trappings and tribulations (of friendship and of romance) right, making her depiction of the rich and fab trying to connect with one another witty and entertaining. [16 Jan 2006]
Atlantic Monthly Elizabeth Judd
Zippy but ultimately disappointing lampoon.
Booklist Donna Seaman
Potentially an update of Tom Wolfe's savaging of the rich and insular, The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987), Wasserstein's parody loses its zing, and the references to terrorism and the Iraq War are irritatingly superficial. [1 Feb 2006, p.31]
Entertainment Weekly Melissa Rose Bernardo
Elements of Style could have used a smidge more substance.
The New York Times Book Review Caryn James
While Wasserstein's plays effortlessly ease characters on and off stage and drop in background information, such structural details defeat her here, with characters often clunkily explained.
Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman
It's difficult to square the wise, witty Wendy behind "The Heidi Chronicles" with the Wendy behind the creaky, trite Elements of Style, her posthumously published first novel, an unfortunate blend of Danielle Steel and Women's Wear Daily.
Kirkus Reviews
Unfortunately, no character is given sufficient space to develop as a real person, and there's no strong narrative perspective to turn any of the stories into more than the sum of their parts. [1 Mar 2006]
 The average user rating for this book is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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